More Cheese From Costco Recalled For E. Coli Contamination

Ten days after announcing that a brand of gouda cheese sold at Costco had been linked to an E. coli outbreak, the FDA has issued a recall for some gorgonzola cheese sold at Costco, also for E. coli contamination.

Luckily, this particular cheese was only distributed to Costco stores in Colorado. From the FDA:

Mauri Gorgonzola cheese is packaged in clear plastic in approximately 1 lb. wedges. The recalled cheese can be identified by the following information contained on a white sticker on the package: “DISTRIBUTED BY DPI Specialty Foods Tualatin, OR, ITALY 34449″ with sell by dates of “01/13/11″ or “01/14/11.” The Costco item number is 34449.

This cheese was tested as part of an investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and the FDA into an E. coli outbreak related to Costco customers who sampled cheese’s at the warehouse store’s “Cheese Road Show.” And while it tested positive for E. coli, investigators say it is not the culprit involved in the outbreak. So far, no illnesses have been associated with this particular cheese.

If you happen to have bought any of this gorgonzola, the FDA says you should not eat it. You should return it to the place of purchase or dispose of it in a closed plastic bag and place it in a sealed trash can to prevent people or animals, including wild animals, from eating the product.

Consumers with questions may contact the cheese’s distributor, DPI Specialty Foods, at 1-800-597-3876.

I want to know how filthy a cheese place has to bee to where the cheese would come into contact with E.coli. E.Coli is carried in the colon of cows and thus is a contamination hazard at meat packing plants and is easily dealt with if you properly cook food. However with something that is supposedly already sterile like Cheese you wonder how filthy the place has to be.

That’s a good question. To make cheese to sell to the public requires that you adhere to stringent requirements regarding temperatures, sterilization of equipment, seperation of processes, etc. I would assume the cheese was contaiminated at the time of packaging. I.e. when larger blocks of cheese were cut and packaged into smaller ones to sell.